Welcome!

I hope you enjoy your time perusing my website. I am “this close” to seeing my debut thriller published, so keep your eyes peeled for news.

I love writing in the thriller genre, specifically about LGBTQ+ characters. My first series has a queer, trans woman as the main character, and her name is Mary Dubois. Being a queer, trans woman, writing a thriller about other LGBTQ+ people was a no-brainer.

I not only want to represent LGBTQ+ people as characters in my stories, I am actively working on creating captivating and suspense-filled thrillers that will please most thriller readers, no matter their inclinations. To be clear, there’s plenty of action. However, I know there is a dearth of trans authors, especially in my writing genre.

I lived much of my life as a painter, and not very successfully, I might add. When I began to transition, I felt the world's weight on my shoulders because now everyone would know this secret I so jealously kept to myself for decades. I had outed myself, knowing how it would profoundly impact the rest of my life. I knew I could not go back and didn’t want to. I just wanted to stop pretending to be someone I had never been. My life was hitting rock bottom, and I had no desire to continue as I was. I could no longer endure this shadow life in which I existed only for the satisfaction of others.

I came out to family and friends in 1999 and began the process of my transition. The following months were a blend of incredible joy at finally being myself and terrible darkness because I felt alone. Many months passed, and I got involved in a support group for trans people and made friends in that community. During this time, I met the love of my life, Dany. About a year later, she made sure I could fully transition, and I never looked back. It’s been twenty-two years of happiness, fourteen of them as a married couple.

During many of those years after transitioning, I continued painting. Only now, it was all about queer women and their lives. I wanted to explore and celebrate the beautiful variety of people in the LGBTQ community. Then, in two thousand eighteen, I hurt my painting hand, which made it painful to hold a brush, and I started looking for a new outlet for my creativity.

Over the years, I would write down my thoughts, experiences, the good and the dark. I thought about it, assembled everything I had written, and began writing my memoir. It is the first serious thing I have ever written. I recruited help in the person of Dawn Rene Greer, they were a significant help, and I will always be thankful. In 2021, Brainspired Publishing put my memoir in print. I was an author. This inspired me to learn more about the craft of writing, something I’m still eyeballing deep into.

It wasn’t enough; my desire to create was burning, and I needed to write more. I’m a lifelong reader of thrillers and horror, so I played around with a premise for a thriller, and before I knew it, I was writing what would soon be my debut novel, THE RAINBOW KILLER: A MARY DUBOIS THRILLER. It’s the first of a series.

I will make you, dear reader, a promise. I will tell you more stories of Mary Dubois as she and her friends solve crimes. I hope that you will stick around and follow my writing. Another promise I make is the following; my thrillers, as were my paintings, are dedicated to the LGBTQ community, issues and lives. I will ensure that you get all the thrills and chills you expect from the genre and maybe help put forth the radical notion that we are all humans who have feelings and desires and are capable of love and understanding. Now, I leave you to get back to work on the next thriller.

Joelle